At a branch of this bank, in Harlan, Iowa, the manager (Debra Brown) had one of her "girls" call my Dad to get info off of his drivers license (my elderly Dad has an account there, until this happened). After pursuing this scam, I was hit with a court order for harassment, all based on the lies of Deb Brown. She refused to give me the name and office phone number of the President of the bank, yet all other banks I called were free to do so. What's up with BotW?? Are they getting ready to steal our money??

If you double schedule something by accident (like I did with my mortgage payment) there's nothing in on-line banking to alert you to the fact and they keep trying to run it through, which if it bounces, will ding you $36.00 a pop. They say there's "nothing they can do", they won't return more than one fee and on-line banking allows for these types of mistakes, whereas my old credit union out in Seattle, BECU, would alert you of the potential error. Call me paranoid but I believe it's intentional as another revenue stream.

I think you're right. I did have an overdraft, and got dinged for one fee over an addition error I made and I promptly went to the bank and deposited enough cash to cover the overdraft and I'll be damned if they didn't ding me for 3 MORE $36.00 NSFs! If they don't fix it, I'm closing my account and spreading the news.

When conducting a phone interview for employment, please due so when you are not obviously in a hurry. Please show a little empathy to the person you are interviewing and remember that some items on a resume must be explained. Allow time for such explainations, and please, at least pretend that you did want to make that call. The phone call from the branch manager was the worst I have ever had. Sorry I botherd you Des Moines. A bank customer.

Your banking service are the worst next to Washington Mutual Bank, MF Global, Lehman Brothers and should be sued over your practices of providing "Debt/Credit" cards, accepting transaction without available funds to then charge overdraft fees of $35.00 on a "DEBT CARD" and online statements that are beyond inaccurate and misleading. As it should be very apparent, you have promoted "Debit Card" not a credit card. This action of marketing and promoting "debit Card" with a visa/master card logo for the convenience of the user falls under torturous act, which can and will be challenged through class action in the future.

Furthermore, in your merchant services partnerships with Elavon, a company that retrieves merchants credit-card funds through an ACH process, with questionable settlement times and funding submission times. Our 3-way conversation with ourt payment gateway and Elavon found a response time of 4-5 hours after settlement submission. We also saw Elavon withholding funding and allowed to dictate to the Bank of The West time and date for account funding of merchant accounts, all while all at the same time allowed submission for payment of elavon billing for services.

As of the holiday weekend, our settlement transactions closed at 5pm (Authorize.net)sent to Elavon, Elavon responds, Elavon sends the funding requests to Bank of the West at 10pm ( a request for funding time is on July 5th), Bank of the West access fees of $175.00 for 4th of July transactions of amounting to $30.00 over the 4th while holding the fund til the 5th and then accesses fees after the funds were deposited to the account ...WTF..!.

The deposit was wholly controlled by Bank of the West and Elavon. It could be argued that because of the holiday their was no processing going on, (No Deposits) except the fees for payments of transactions on the "debit card"... I was told this was to save me some embarrassment while in a checkout line. The funding and settlement amounts should have been sent at 5pm before 6pm not 10pm and posted as all other deposits do. This amount should have posted landing on the 3rd or 4th at midnight not the 5th at 9am. On the 2nd and 3rd the Bank of the West never posted $1500 or so in funds or funded deposits but did post a positive balance online which would cover other transactions used by the holder of the card, instead the funds remained in a cloud of A very lame Bank called Bank of the West. PS. At my very first instance of seeing this banking hickup about four weeks earlier, I phoned the bank in Oakland and asked if i could bring the statements for funding settlements, bank posting times and the clerk told me "we are not here to help us figure out my bank statements". Your people....!

In closing your bank is not Pro Business or Pro Small Business or professional whatsoever. My company opened an account in April for the free checking, we were told for better merchant service we should contact and setup a merchant account with your "Partner" Elavon. In course of the following these instructions we contacted the Rep. Setup the form with a promise of (3) day setup. We then arraigned closure of FirstData account who rapes businesses until they say stop..! We then waited for 30 days, and lost 8 scheduled service request due to merchant services unavailability. Once up an running the funds were again withheld for (6) days because PCI policy was overlooked, and we were never asked to provide the PIC compliance certification located on the wall in our offices. So we waited, and consistently called for clarification but it must happen between 8 and 5 est. In our desperation, we setup another account with Chase PaymentTech and in (1) day setup and ready. This account was maintained with all the fees because it became apparent the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Well written. Not a rant and rave. Excellent presentation of the facts as seen first hand by the consumer. Thing is, ALL of our banking systems do the same thing and would you like to know why? Because they have been getting away with it for years. Take a look at the so called interest rate for crying out loud! I thought it was bad when I was a kid getting 8.5 to 10% we would ALL go to the Bank that offered that now. I kinda gave away my age there but you get the point. The banks have been screwing us for so long that they expect us to smile and like it while they go up in us. I personally am more than a little tired of it. I use my bank which one doesn't matter, but I use my bank as a receptacle to get my check at. After every payday I go to the bank and leave just enough to pay for my gas coffee etc. The rest I take home and store it in my vault that is just as good as theirs. At least then I know they aren't making a mint with my money and arguing with me that I DONT deserve that courtesy reach around I ask for while they are busy buggering me. Can you tell? Yeah I really do NOT like financial institutions. I went to my bank a short time ago needing a money order or cashiers check( I don't keep checks, had a bad experience with someone getting ahold of them) They charged me $10.00 for one. I had to stop and think....What DO they do for me? The answer is nothing, at least nothing for free. So...let me get this right.... Im supposed to allow you to use my money to make you billions... but you cant even help me out with a money order once a year?..2 years?Sounds a lot like they need to be brought back down to the blue collar level. They need to get a grip on what it is that makes it possible for them to make their money. What IT is .... Is Us.

We just opened an account with Bank of the West and it's been a nightmare. It took over a week to post from an escrow account. We're only allowed to withdraw $2,000.00 a day. We're transferring to another bank. This is illegal.

I have a personal checking account, savings account, joint checking account and my husband has his personal checking account with your bank. On 10-17-2013 I deposited a money order for $300.00 from Wells Fargo. It came back on my account and I was charged an additional $12.00. I have been trying to work with the Parker Colorado branch manager and the 1-800 number folks to get it cleared up for a week now. They keep telling me the money order was canceled by the purchaser. However, when I contacted Wells fargo they informed me the money order has not been canceled, nor has it ever been presented for payment. They still have the $300.00. They were just waiting for my bank to present the money order so they can make payment on it. Bank of the west is refusing to assist me in any way. I asked them this morning to do a three way call between me and Wells Fargo to clear up the situation and they refused. I asked if I could come and pick up the money order so I could take it to Wells Fargo to cash there and I was told no. So basically you were holding $300.00 of my money hostage, in addition to the $12.00 fees you have charged me.

Courtney at The Parker branch informed my ex-husband that once he gave me the money order it was no longer his, and once I gave it to her the money order was no longer my money order it was hers. She also told him (while he was with the banker at Wells Fargo) that you shouldn't purchase a money order if you don't have the funds!!! Does she not understand that you buy them with CASH???? Is she the one trying to steal from me??? or are your people just not trained? In the end Wells Fargo did the RIGHT thing and re-issued me a money order and CANCELED the one she has so you can let her know she is OUT OF LUCK! I was able to stop the little scheme going on and retrieved my $300.00 no thanks to my own bank. I am going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, my husband and I are moving our accounts and I work for a national company. I will be sending out an e mail to all of my co-workers letting them know how Bank of the west treats their customers. Thanks for stealing from my children during the government shut down and government was not paying me.

I live in a small rural community where we have had a bank since 1974. Bank of the West came to our community in 2003 and bought out the local bank. Now Bank of the West is leaving, leaving a small community of 3,200 bank less. They won't tell us why they are leaving and in their move they aren't replacing us with a bank. The nearest town is 12 miles away. Mom and pop businesses and those who don't drive will hurt the most. Michael Sandfordof Black Canyon City AZ

We have had an account with you for 10+ years. Recently, I have had to contact your customer service for a number of reasons. I may have well just not even called. Each time, the response was, we can't help you. I have even escalated to a supervisor, again, may have well just not even escalated. It seems you pat response is: We can't help you. Tonight was just another one of these events. My wife deposited $1400.00 into our account so that I would be able to rent a car and stay in a hotel in Dallas. MORE than enough since I was only staying 2 nights. Well, I fly into DFW, go to rent my car, CARD DECLINED. I called your customer service # and explained my DESPERATE situation. Again, got the: We can't help you. I escalated, the supervisor also indicated: "We can't help you at this time." So, I asked, "When will my funds be available?" The response was: "They will be available at 12:00midnight Central time." He also said, "Oh, I see you are in Colorado, so they will be available at 11:00pm mountain time." So I had to sit in the airport until 12:00pm CST, waiting for the funds to be available. Come 12:00midnight, I checked. Well, as far as I am concerned, THEY BOTH LIED to get me off the phone. I also asked, what if they dont become available. He said to CB. Well, I called back and now your customer service is CLOSED!!!!!!! NICE TRICK!!!! NOT HAPPY at ALL!!!!!!! I am STUCK here at DFW. THANK YOU B.O.W for the memorable experience!!!!! I called my wife, discussed this with her and we WILL be closing our account with your institution and letting at LEAST 11 people know what we experienced with your banks customer service. WHY EVEN HAVE A CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT IF THEIR RESPONSE IS ALWAYS THE SAME, "WE CAN'T HELP YOU." Save your bank the costs of running a customer service center and increase your stock holders dividends and your executives bonuses!!!!!

As I read the other blogs, I am not alone. SHAME ON YOU BANK OF THE WEST!!!!!! You keep losing customers, you won't have a bank any longer.

BTW, I have sent an email to the customer help email, Still no response. I am sending one to the corporate office. I bet I will get the same.

I am replying to my own because now, when I tried to send an email to their corporate office email address of: [email protected], I got an undeliverable. WOW!!!!!!!***********************************************************************************************

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

[email protected]An error occurred while trying to deliver this message to the recipient's e-mail address. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message, or provide the following diagnostic text to your system administrator.

The first year servicing my mortgage all went well..... then all hell broke loose. After I would make a payment, the very next day BOW would debit my checking account for the full amount and assess me an overdraft fee of $36. The local BOW bank would tell me, not their problem. Call to customer service and would tell me can't help you! Scream hard enough and finally get it corrected only to have them do it a second time in the middle of the month! ! ! WTF? this went on for 3 months. finally closed the checking account. Now, the following month, they tell me I was late with my payment and hit me up again for a late fee! Payment was made well on time! I called the bank and told them this was their last chance to get it straightened out and keep it that way or I was refinancing my house elsewhere. I haven't had this much trouble on a mortgage loan since I had one with Countrywide years ago. I do not reccomment using this bank for anything!

First off, your customer service phone line is the slowest I have ever experienced in my life. Secondly, why does it take up to ten business days to release documents involving a car loan? The final payment was sent from my bank to yours electronically and the loan was closed out one day later. The release of lien and title should be immediately processed and sent to the customer, as soon as possible. I was originally told three to five days to send it out, which I think is absurd. You have the money, the loan is closed, what is the issue? Then I am told that it hasn't been sent out yet and may not be for another 5 days, possibly. I am in the midst of trying to sell this vehicle and the fact that these documents are not in my possession already is killing the deal. It seems banks want their payments on time but refuse to help their customers when they need documentation after a loan is closed out, as quickly as possible.If anyone asks me about Bank of the West, I will kindly tell them to look elsewhere for a loan or other banking needs they might want. I have never had any loan closed out from a financial institution that took this long to send out the title and lien release. The longest was 4 days, from closeout to my receipt of said documents. Get your act together and start being responsible towards your customers needs.

I have been with this branch for many years now. I always deposit or cash the same 2 checks every week. One of these checks has a "check before cashing" flag attached to it. Whenever I go into the bank to have this check processed, the teller will take it to the manager, who will either look at my account history and ok it or call the company to get the Controller's approval. Yesterday I had the misfortune to deal with who was possibly the most astonishingly impolite man I've encountered in my years of banking. His name is Clemente Palacios and he is titled as the Assistant Vice President/Branch Manager, though how he has been entrusted to manage anything is a mystery, especially in a customer service position. The extremely kind Bank Teller called him over to the window. He looked at the computer screen and handed me the check, coldly remarking "I cannot process this check." I explained to him the usual procedure regarding this issue, to which he replied "Then I'll talk to the other manager. She shouldn't be doing it either." Then he turned and walked away from me. That was it. Not another word. I felt dismissed. I left to return to my car, but Clemente Palacios's arrogance and total rudeness drove me to return to let him know my feelings and get his business card. I filed a formal verbal complaint to the Bank of the West headquarters regarding this incident. I will follow it up with a written complaint. I'm not a lot of money to them, but if I have to deal with this kind of behavior from someone that is supposed to be a professional, I will look for another bank. Clemente Palacios does not conduct himself as a professional. He is more like a bully. He is a horrible representative for this business. Everyone else at this branch has always been so kind to me. This was shocking. p.s.-I put the check in the atm-it cleared with no problems last night.

On September 9th or 10th, 2015 I wrote a check for my quarterly taxes to the IRS and made up a bank deposit of approx. $2,200 in cash because I'd been putting money aside for that purpose. It was a blazing hot day in California hot day in California and I had my dog in the car and couldn't walk into the bank. I drove through the post office drive through to mail my payment and double checked that I put the tax check envelope into the mailbox just to be sure I didn't put my deposit into the mailbox. Then I drove directly to the front of Bank of the West about four blocks away and put my deposit into the night drop in an envelope with the words, "Bank of the West Deposit" on the envelope with my name. I didn't think to make a copy of my deposit slip because I've never had a problem with Bank of the West and my deposit slips don't have carbons. Last night I went to online banking and was aghast at the revelation that the deposit had never been recorded. I called the bank this morning and a woman who was barely civil said she would have someone check the night drops on those days when they had time and someone would call me back. I asked her if there was any way to see if the bank was over on one of those two days and she said the bank doesn't do balances like that. She called me back and said she'd checked those two days night drops and there hadn't been a deposit for that amount put into the night drop. It could have been $2,100. or $2,200. or something similar because the tax bill was $2,070 and I wanted to put more than the exact amount but, since I didn't make a copy of the deposit slip, I can't be sure of the exact amount. If you look at my long business and personal relationship with Bank of the West you will see that I'm an exemplary customer. I've always done everything by the book and haven't had a problem. I know I made that deposit. Just because I can't prove it I'm out of a lot of money and that makes me mad because someone took my cash on the inside of the bank. Whomever took it knew I wouldn't be able to prove it. I would switch banks but I have grandchildren linked to my account and it would disrupt their banking if I did. I'm writing this on the outside chance that someone higher up will believe me and that, if someone else reports losing cash from the night drop box it will become apparent I'm not lying. This is very distressing and the agent I dealt with at the bank was less than helpful. Maybe she has more money and it isn't of consequence to her or maybe she knows it's my word against the banks so she just doesn't care.Mary Julia Klimenko, Benicia, CA

Our business has over $3 million dollars in our account Iasked the branch manager to send me a copy of a deposit she became irate and told me to stop calling every two seconds and they will send it when they get to it they have other things to do, new account told me I would have to wait. WHAT KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THIS? THIS IS THE BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA BRANCH

My name is Richard Francisco Pelaez Jr. I used to9 have an account at this bank but asking for a way to stop corrupt corporation from taking my money the Manger didn't tell me what to do so My Daughter who is godfather in organize crime and has been using the different bank to laundry illegal money because I keep change banks for the Bankers work for Organize crime And I gave you my name because I better get all my money back all else I will tell the world how you don't informed you depositors how to stop illegal payment for shit serves .

After moving here from CO 20 years or so ago I started banking at Bank of the West here in our small town. I have nothing but excellent remarks about the people who have worked there and who are now working there. They go out of their way to help me in anyway they can. I am 80 years old so appreciate very much all that they do!!!